Your Friendly Neighborhood Music Critic

The Week in Music: 6/9/2017

The Week in Music Politics:

So, Rihanna is amazing. After being one of the most charitably awesome people and releasing Anti, she just went to Malawi to f**king TEACH KIDS MATH. She’s too cool, honestly. God damn.

Yesterday, June 8th, The NYC Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment and Hot 97 Radio proclaimed the day as “Global Hip-Hop Day” at 1520 Sedgwick Ave in the Bronx, the apartment building of DJ Kool Herc, the man who started hip-hop. “The Bronx is an iconic, internationally renowned hip hop destination,” said Bronx Borough President Rubén Díaz Jr. “The home of a once rebellious art form that has, over generations, become a global powerhouse. To designate this area as a landmark and celebrate this occasion with the pioneers who started it all—many of whom still hold close ties to this community—is a remarkable and historic moment for our borough.”

This past month, a six-year-old child from St. Louis posted a PSA video pleading people to “stop killing each other.” The video went viral on Facebook for how woke this child was, saying “I’m a kid. And I’m not supposed to be knowing all this stuff. I’m not supposed to be knowing about all these guns.” Rapper Pusha T eventually saw the clip and was apparently so moved that he launched a college fund for him, bought him and his family tickets to Six Flags, and premiere tickets to Spider-man: Homecoming. Nice job Push!

Rock am Ring, a rock n’ roll festival in Nürburg, Germany, was evacuated Friday (6/2) after the police received information about a possible terrorist threat. After Manchester, the police said “safety is paramount.” Universal Music Group donated another $500k to Manchester victims this week and The Weeknd donated $100k to a medical center in Uganda that specializes in maternity and child care.

The Week in Music Beefs:

I’ve talked about XXXTentacion in the past, the out-of-jail nineteen-year-old rapper from Florida whose flow might have been stolen by Drake on the track “KMT” from More Life. On Wednesday night (6/8), the rapper was tackled and knocked-out during a show in San Diego, with dozens of combatants and security bum rushing the stage. The rapper was carried off the stage and is now okay, tweeting: “next time make sure you kill me so I can’t talk shit.” Watch the chaos of the scene here.

The Week in Music Business:

Apple’s new HomePod was announced this week, a speaker like the Amazon Echo that features “360º audio” and technology that “automatically analyzes the acoustics, adjusts the sound based on the speaker’s location, and steers the music in the optimal direction.” It also connects to Siri for voice commands (and the ability for Siri to hear everything that happens in your house). It should be out around Christmas time this year and will be priced at $349, so now Siri and Santa will both see when you’re sleeping and when you’re awake.

If you got $1.5 million lying around, the Saturday Night Fever dance floor is going up for auction. I really want it, but it’s starting at $1.5 million.

The Week in Music Oddities:

The new show, Earthworks, by Live Nation is now available to watch on VICELAND, “follows artists on life-altering journeys to remarkable destinations to see how different cultures and environments can influence the music we hear.” In the first episode of the show, Animal Collective search the Brazilian rain forest for sounds, which you can watch here.

Want to dance for Missy Elliot? Now is you chance as Missy is holding open auditions tonight (6/9) in Atlanta for anyone over the age of 16. The ad says that you better “do your research on Missy.” Check out the details here.

A funny thing happened at the Night of Laughter & Song event at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. When Kesha approached Jerry Seinfeld and asked for a hug, he said “no thanks,” because he didn’t know who she was. When the reporter told him it was Kesha, he said, “Okay, well I wish her the best.” It was a pretty hilarious altercation which you can watch here.

The Week in Music Releases:

Alt-J – Relaxer

Katy Perry – Witness

Phoenix – Ti Amo

SZA – CTRL

Chuck Berry – Chuck

Sufjan Stevens/Bryce Dessner – Planetarium

Lastly, here’s a great video made by The Hood Internet that mashes up the last 40 years of Hip-Hop music into one fantastic homage.